After the brief visit in the library, Mordred returned to his room.
Unfortunately, he was not allowed to bring the Magic Guidebook with him, but he could accept it because his objective was achieved.
'Good. With this, my talent for Magic will be noticed, and I will finally get to learn real Magic!'
He had already learned that he was a low-ranking prince of one of the biggest and most powerful nations of this world.
But despite that, unless he pulled out a stunt like this, he would simply have no access to a Magic Guidebook. There wasn't one lying around that he could freely read.
That's why he thought of this simple scheme.
With this matter out of the way, once he was left alone, Mordred found himself something that could hold water and stretched out his hand once again.
Earlier, he failed in true Silent Casting. He still needed to say the spell's name for support. This made Mordred worry that just like Rin Tohsaka in the Fate series, he might need to say the name of a spell out loud for it to work.
It wasn't ideal nor was it too bad, but then it probably meant that he could not modify his spells and pump them full of Mana like Rudeus.
Putting these depressing thoughts aside, Mordred closed his eyes and concentrated once again.
'Recall and repeat the feeling from before… The feeling from before…'
He thought back to when he cast the Water Ball and attempted to repeat doing that silently.
Unfortunately, after he gathered his Magical Energy, he remained stuck at the same point as before. Too much time had passed since he cast the Water Ball, and he simply couldn't replicate the same feeling.
"... Water Ball!"
With this trigger, his spell finally came to be.
After that, he attempted to seize the feeling and immediately cast Water Ball silently, but he still found it difficult.
He refused to give up and kept at it.
Fortunately, after casting the Water Ball a few more times, Mordred eventually managed to cast it silently.
It was a huge relief. He simply needed to practice first to learn how to cast a spell without an Incantation!
For the Elementary Rank [Water Ball], he only needed to repeat it several times to fully engrave the method of casting it without a chant into his body. Now what was left was to etch that feeling into his mind, to make it instinctual and something he wouldn't forget.
As Mordred learned how to cast the Water Ball silently, he also became able to change its various parameters like its size and rough shape.
While Mordred was practicing, two people at one point visited him.
One was Charlotte, who looked quite thrilled.
Apart from that, after her courteous introduction, Mordred learned that the other 50-year-old woman was the Head Maid. It seemed that his nanny had reported his talent for Magic to the Head Maid.
No surprise there, the woman smiled at him and said, "Your Highness, can you show me your Magic?"
"Mm. Okay." Mordred nodded. He then stretched out his hand.
Without him saying anything, a sphere of water appeared before his hand and then dropped it into the bucket.
Seeing this scene, Charlotte and the Head Maid's expressions froze. Their mouths gently opened and eyes widened, wearing stupefied faces as if they were not sure if they saw correctly.
After a few seconds, the Head Maid blinked her eyes a few times, looked at Mordred and said in an incredulous tone, "Did you just… Omit the Incantation?"
"Mm, yes. Is that wrong?..." Mordred blinked his eyes, speaking cutely and looking up at the woman as if he was afraid of scolding.
The Head Maid blinked her eyes. This child was just too cute. How was what he did wrong? She said, "No, dear boy, what you did was incredible! The king will be happy when he hears about this!!!"
…
Mordred knew that what he just did, unnecessarily showing too much talent, would be considered incredibly foolish and reckless when Hitogami was concerned, but he had his reasons for doing that.
Following this incident, the news of a young Magic prodigy appearing among the king's children spread through the royal palace.
Even more shockingly, apart from the fact that a 2-year-old boy managed to cast Magic, he apparently was able to cast the said spell while skipping the Incantation entirely! If this rumor was true, it was a level of magical talent that had never appeared in the Kingdragon Realm!
This news had alarmed the people in charge of the palace and eventually reached the King himself.
A few hours later on that day, Mordred was called in to see the King.
'Meeting the King personally…' Mordred felt a little nervous. At this point, he was still a little weakling that could barely grab a chicken, so he had to be careful.
Although if he used Water Ball, his only spell, silently and at full power, it might still cause some damage…
But just what kind of person was the King?
As far as Mordred was aware, people didn't go out of their way to speak of him well, nor did they speak of the King poorly. At most, it seemed to be the case that the King was not a tyrant and just a pervert who spent most of his days messing around; that's the impression Mordred had of him - of someone like Robert Baratheon.
From his room, Mordred was brought by Charlotte to what seemed to be a waiting room. In the room there were several other people; by the look of it, waiting to also have an audience with the king.
After an attendant soon called out to them, Mordred and Charlotte skipped the queue and walked through an extravagant, huge door with golden decorations.
'The throne room, huh?' Mordred thought as he went in.
He entered what looked like an example of a medieval fantasy world's throne room, with a long red carpet in the middle, thick pillars at the sides along with all kinds of decorations to show off the wealth and majesty of the crown - this included impressive suits of armor, various sculptures often adorned with gold, unique-looking trees and so on.
And at the end of the room was naturally the throne. And the man sitting on it with a crown was undoubtedly the king.
It was the 32nd Generation King of the Kingdragon Kingdom, Lucius von Kingdragon. What kind of man was he?
Mordred concentrated Magic Power in his eyes to better see the man on the throne.
Firstly, he saw that the King was not sitting alone.
On top of his lap sat two young girls. A girl with dark purple hair and volptous chest that looked to be 15 years old sat on his right thigh, snuggling up to his chest, while another even younger and more flat elf girl sat on his left, being hugged by him.
As for the king himself, appearance wise, he was a man around 40 years old. An average-looking face that was neither good-looking nor ugly, curly golden hair and a stubble. He was not particularly in shape, but not obese either.
If not for the extravagant clothes, the golden crown embroidered with jewels and the entire grandeur surrounding him along with two gorgeous escorts, the man on the golden chair gave Mordred the feeling of an average 40-year-old male that could be anyone, a businessman or a taxi driver.
The only thing that was out of place with that picture was a natural expression of arrogance that seemed to be ingrained into his very being, as if everything was beneath him. It was the disposition of someone who had been in power for a long time.
But what Mordred was focused on were the two exceedingly young girls at the king's lap. He slightly frowned. 'Eh, I wasn't wrong. The King is a pervert.'
Why did all the powerful nobles in this world have to be such degenerates? So be it if someone was older and looked young, like a long-lived race, but this guy was a man well in his 40s while the girls looked like they could be his daughters. It simply looked wrong visually…
Near the entrance door, a chubby man spoke up with an androgynous voice, "Mordred Kingdragon, the 16th Prince, and his nursing mother Charlotte Carver! They are here in regard to the 16th Prince's supposed use of Silent Spellcasting at the age of 2!"
"Your Majesty." Charlotte knelt on the red carpet and lowered her head.
Mordred mirrored her gesture. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "... Father."
The king Lucius looked at him sternly. "Hn. Boy, is it true that you managed to cast Magic? And that you can do it while omitting the Incantation?"
"... Yes."
"Show it to me."
Hearing this, Mordred slowly stood up.
He extended his hand and looked at the red carpet below him. After hesitating for just a moment, he gathered his Magical Energy, shaping the early form of the spell's structure, then finalized it.
Silently, a sphere of water formed and then splashed against the carpet, creating a wet stain.
"What do you think?" The King looked to the side at a man that was likely his adviser or a magical adviser.
"It seemed to be genuine Silent Casting, Your Majesty," the man answered with some uncertainty in his voice.
Silent Casting was a legendary and mythical skill. He had never seen it performed, so he could only make a guess.
Additionally, for a 2-year-old to appear with this ability, it is likely that it is only a rare inborn talent or that the boy is a Miko - a Blessed Child born with an abnormality in his Magic Power.
Thus, the adviser added, "It is possible that His Highness is a Miko."
"Hm. Investigate it later. But remember that he's still my son," said the King.
"I understand."
A Miko, once discovered, would usually have their name stripped down and would become the property of the kingdom. But it was different in the case of children of the royal family. They would instead gain a special status and their importance would rise.
Lucius von Kingdragon turned to Mordred's group and formed a faint smile. "I will assign you a fitting Magic tutor, son. This level of talent must be properly trained."
"Thank you!" said Mordred. It seemed that after showing sufficient talent, he leveled up from 'boy' to 'son'. But this was good. Getting a fitting Magic tutor was exactly why he was there.
"Work hard to bring glory to the Kingdragon name," added Lucius. He then looked at Charlotte. "And for you, you did well to discover my son's talent for Magic at such a young age. You will be properly rewarded."
After hearing this, Charlotte was jubilant. "Thank you for the praise, Your Majesty! I have only done my job!"
Mordred watched expressionlessly. No matter what, at least the king did his job too.
...
Having returned to his room, Mordred recalled his meeting with the king.
It seemed that no matter what, and even though he was a pervert, at least his father tried to do his parenting job properly; it reminded him of Paul. Although Paul at least had a fetish for big boobs, so he would never go after children.
Shaking off this weird and random thought, Mordred thought about a more serious topic.
Hitogami.
According to the events of the novel, the self-proclaimed God of Humans Hitogami would surely eliminate anyone that could pose a threat to him through scheming and through his various influential pawns.
As an otherworldly soul and someone with high talent, Mordred was a serious threat to Hitogami.
Just now, Mordred had revealed himself to the entire royal palace as a 2-year-old child with the talent to cast Magic and even being able to do it silently.
This kind of news would eventually probably spread through all the Noble circles, and as he keeps having more and more outstanding achievements, would slowly spread through the entire kingdom. He might even become known as a Miko.
One would clearly see it as an insane and stupid move before he gained enough power to project himself. A great risk.
And it was even crazier when one considered the fact that the current king of the Kingdragon Kingdom is extremely likely to be Hitogami's apostle!
But despite all that, it was a calculated risk. Putting aside other reasons, it was because of the words of another self-proclaimed God – Morgan Freeman.
He remembered their conversation clearly until this day.
Before Mordred reincarnated, Morgan said: "I'll tell you one thing before you go, son. To put you in that world, I had to make quite significant changes because I didn't only transfer your soul from Earth, but also a copy of Mordred's soul and body. To avoid things being distorted with your birth alone, I made it so that the things that happen within the Kingdragon Realm simply won't accelerate the changes in the world's Fate at large, at least in the beginning."
'Then what does that mean exactly,' Mordred pondered.
"It means that whatever you do in the Kingdragon Kingdom, it won't accelerate the Teleportation Incident in Roa and won't make you noticed by Hitogami until the world's Fate shifts enough. Only when Hitomagi's Fate changes enough to include you, would he take notice and take interest in you."
'Oh…'
"Of course, if you become famous all over the world, Hitogami would eventually discover you through his apostles, but because he would not see the changes to the future yet, he would just ignore you. After all, you would seem unrelated to him and perhaps someone that would probably die soon enough. And it isn't like he can change his apostles at any time he wants, either."
'...'
"Your situation will be similar to Rudeus, at least early on. I felt like telling you all this because I know that you would worry about Hitogami and conceal your strength, but it's just no fun. So don't be too squeamish about making changes! Well, I hope you'll give me a good show. Off you go, son."
And so Mordred felt that it did not matter even if he became known as the most absurd genius that had ever existed because Hitogami would likely only view him as such - a human genius who's not related to him in any way.
As long as he didn't act beyond the borders of the Kingdragon Kingdom, that is.
And as long as he didn't cause enough changes in the outside world to trigger the Mana Calamity, probably.
Unlike Hitogami, Morgan actually granted people wishes and had even reincarnated him. He wouldn't lie or trick him, right?
At the very least, Mordred didn't want to delay his growth, so he decided to take this risk and show off his talent for Magic while he's still in the palace.
This way he'll get much better treatment as a bastard child along with better training and learning resources!
If not for Morgan's intervention, Mordred assumed that the Mana Disaster might have been triggered by his appearance in this world alone, or the timing of it might have accelerated to the point it could happen when he's about 5 years old and in a completely unrelated place while Rudeus was also still be a baby… So it makes sense that Morgan would want to maintain the integrity of the timeline somewhat. It was probably not a lie.